Is there any practical proof that quantum entanglement really works?

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on the practical implications and understanding of quantum entanglement, specifically addressing the instantaneous effect of measurement on entangled particles. Participants clarify that while entangled particles exhibit correlated measurement outcomes, no information can be transmitted faster than light due to the nature of quantum mechanics. The conversation emphasizes that measurement outcomes are random and that entanglement is disrupted upon measurement, preventing any form of faster-than-light communication. Resources such as the Nobel Foundation's materials and introductory quantum mechanics notes are recommended for further understanding.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of quantum mechanics principles
  • Familiarity with quantum entanglement concepts
  • Knowledge of measurement theory in quantum physics
  • Basic grasp of relativistic effects on measurements
NEXT STEPS
  • Study the Nobel Prize materials on quantum physics, particularly the 2022 summary
  • Read "Totally Random" by Persi Diaconis for insights on randomness in quantum mechanics
  • Explore the undergraduate-level quantum mechanics notes available at Macquarie University
  • Investigate the implications of contextuality theorems in quantum measurement
USEFUL FOR

Physicists, students of quantum mechanics, and anyone interested in the foundational principles of quantum entanglement and its implications for communication and measurement.

sadaronjiggasha
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What i mean if we change state/spin at one end it will immediately effect the other. Can we see that live using two camera which may be 10 meter apart so that minium time delay. Is there any video proof exist such kind?
 
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sadaronjiggasha said:
What i mean if we change state/spin at one end it will immediately effect the other.
That's not what happens.
sadaronjiggasha said:
Can we see that live using two camera which may be 10 meter apart so that minium time delay. Is there any video proof exist such kind?
You can't watch elementary particles on video. Video works by a macroscopic object being bombarded with billions of photons. An electron may interact with a single photon, as it were, but you can't watch an electron spinning in real time like a pool ball.

In fact, even imagining a video of an electron spinning shows that you are not thinking about QM at all, but about a classical model of an elementary particle.
 
sadaronjiggasha said:
What i mean if we change state/spin at one end it will immediately effect the other.
Perhaps this would satisfy you: If you perform measurement at one end to create a random number, with appropriate entangled state this immediately guarantees that the random number at the other end will be the same. It's like instantaneous transfer of random "signal".
 
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@Demystifier Its so mind boggling! Isn't it same as they both have similar properties like twin and they are showing same random number at same time. I read somewhere if you think you understand QP actually you don't understand at all. Its always twist my head ups and down!
 
sadaronjiggasha said:
I read somewhere if you think you understand QP actually you don't understand at all.
Don't believe everything you read.
 
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sadaronjiggasha said:
Isn't it same as they both have similar properties like twin and they are showing same random number at same time.
The difference is that quantum measurement outcome did not exist before measurement, it was created by the measurement. There are contextuality theorems showing that it is not possible that the system had all values of measurement outcomes before the measurement.
 
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Nevertheless it must be stressed that there is no spooky action at a distance, and you thus can't transmit a message faster than the speed of light!
 
@Demystifier Thanks for your answer. Can you suggest me any topics links or video link which will help me not thinking general way but quantum way. I read from schrödinger to current nobel winner zeilinger. Still I am thinking like general physics. How I can change that?
 
  • #10
sadaronjiggasha said:
@Demystifier Thanks for your answer. Can you suggest me any topics links or video link which will help me not thinking general way but quantum way. I read from schrödinger to current nobel winner zeilinger. Still I am thinking like general physics. How I can change that?
There's a fairly accessible introduction to QM at the undergraduate level here:

http://physics.mq.edu.au/~jcresser/Phys304/Handouts/QuantumPhysicsNotes.pdf
 
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  • #11
sadaronjiggasha said:
@Demystifier Thanks for your answer. Can you suggest me any topics links or video link which will help me not thinking general way but quantum way. I read from schrödinger to current nobel winner zeilinger. Still I am thinking like general physics. How I can change that?
Are you looking for something at the lay popular level? I know some good books at that level which are not free, for example Rae
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0521278023/?tag=pfamazon01-20
 
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  • #12
I am looking for something even may be one liner that will dramatically change my way of thinking. Putting all clasical physics behind me only thinking quantum way. Because I always try to understand anything by real life example. Then I can understand easily. But when I can't find any real life example I can't related to that. As QP physics does not relate to general physics I always mixed up QP to classic physics. How can I change that mind set?
 
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  • #13
sadaronjiggasha said:
I am looking for something even may be one liner that will dramatically change my way of thinking.
The electron in the ground state of the hydrogen atom has zero angular momentum. It cannot be "going round" the nucleus if it has no angular momentum. In fact, it cannot be seen as orbiting the nucleus in the classical sense in any shape or form.

Instead, the hydrogen atom is defined by an energy state. How you imagine an energy state, other than by referring to pure mathenatics, is another question.
 
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  • #14
Like in double slit experiment when several eletron shooted and the pattern in the wall created, it hard to understand why that happen but when I saw video of water flowing into double slit and created the same pattern than it was so easy to understand. Visual representation of anything is very easy to understand.
 
  • #15
sadaronjiggasha said:
What i mean if we change state/spin at one end it will immediately effect the other. Can we see that live using two camera which may be 10 meter apart so that minium time delay.
Not done the way you describe, but (I did this myself, in an undergraduate lab) we can set the photon source exactly midway between two polarizing filters. The particles in a pair are emitted moving in opposite directions, so they both reached their detectors at the same time - zero time lag between the measurements.
 
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  • #17
sadaronjiggasha said:
Like in double slit experiment when several eletron shooted and the pattern in the wall created, it hard to understand why that happen but when I saw video of water flowing into double slit and created the same pattern than it was so easy to understand. Visual representation of anything is very easy to understand.
https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691176956/totally-random might be a good book for you.
 
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  • #18
So if one entangled particle is here and the other in Alpha Centauri, and we measure our particle spin as +1, we know that the spin in Alpha Centauri is -1. In 5 minutes we measure the spin again and it is now -1. Does it mean it changed the spin because particle's spin can take values +/-1 with probability 0.5 or because the guys in Alpha Centauri measured their particle spin +1 ?

By the way, how can we know who measured the spin of their particle before and who after: us or them, if "before" and "after" in two remote systems is relative to observer?
 
  • #19
leonid.ge said:
In 5 minutes we measure the spin again
No; the first measurement disrupts the entanglement. Subsequent measurements do not show entanglement.

leonid.ge said:
By the way, how can we know who measured the spin of their particle before and who after: us or them, if "before" and "after" in two remote systems is relative to observer?
We can't. Unless we communicate (at c).
 
  • #20
leonid.ge said:
By the way, how can we know who measured the spin of their particle before and who after: us or them, if "before" and "after" in two remote systems is relative to observer?
That's precisely the issue if you try to propose a FTL communication between the particles. Which way does the communication go if the order of measurements is frame dependent?
 
  • #21
But if entanglement is destroyed after the first measurement, then how would you use it for sending information? Even if you could, you would only do it once.
 
  • #22
leonid.ge said:
But if entanglement is destroyed after the first measurement, then how would you use it for sending information?
You can't use it to communicate because you have no control over the measurements.

The question which perplexes people is how nature manages to achieve the measurement correlations.
 
  • #23
But if you destroy the entanglement by your measurement, then how there is correlation if the particles are no entangled anymore? You cannot guarantee that both sides do measurements on the two entangled particles simultaneously, because simultaneous does not exist when talking of remote systems. So one measures entangled particle whilst the other measures the not entangled one? A bit confusing.
 
  • #24
leonid.ge said:
But if you destroy the entanglement by your measurement, then how there is correlation
The correlation applies to the initial measurement on each particle.
 
  • #25
leonid.ge said:
By the way, how can we know who measured the spin of their particle before and who after: us or them, if "before" and "after" in two remote systems is relative to observer?
DaveC426913 said:
No; the first measurement disrupts the entanglement. Subsequent measurements do not show entanglement.

Despite anyone's insistence otherwise: QM does NOT say anything about the ordering of measurements on entangled systems. It is not true that the first particle measured ends the overall entanglement any more than it is true that the second measurement ends the overall entanglement. This is simply unanswered in QM, and no experiment has ever demonstrated otherwise. Relativistic reference frame plays no part in such discussions.

1. You can in fact observe both particles (of a 2 particle entangled system) in the same exact reference frame. This way, there is no ambiguity about "first" and "second" in ordering. There is no observable conclusion that Alice influences Bob any more than Bob influences Alice.

2. A 2 particle system can be entangled on more than one basis. Ending entanglement on one does not automatically end entanglement on other bases. You could measure and demonstrate wavelength entanglement (for example) while spin/polarization entanglement is not affected.

3. All you can say is that a measurement on particle A by Alice leaves A unentangled on that basis for further measurements. Particle B can only be said to be unentangled (as of the time of the measurement on A) on that basis by assumption - nothing more. (Vice versa is "equally" true.) Keep in mind that an entangled system of 2 particles does not even require both particles have ever even coexisted! They don't even need to have interacted! Throw all your ideas about entanglement and causality out the window, there are none that can be demonstrated.

Please recall that all outcomes of entanglement measurements are random, as best can be determined. No way to extract FTL signals when that is the case.
 
  • #26
Suppose there is a new law: if measuring spin +1, then Biden will be president, otherwise Trump. Now, you went to Alpha Centauri and took with you one of the entangled particles leaving the other one on Earth. You measure you particle and see spin -1 which means the spin measured on Earth was +1, and you instantly know that Biden won. So you got information about who became president faster than speed of light.
 
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  • #27
leonid.ge said:
Suppose there is a new law: if measuring spin +1, then Biden will be president, otherwise Trump. Now, you went to Alpha Centauri and took with you one of the entangled particles leaving the other one on Earth. You measure you particle and see spin -1 which means the spin measured on Earth was +1, and you instantly know that Biden won. So you got information about who became president faster than speed of light.
That's not communication because the participants have no control of the message. They have a shared knowledge about the particles and implicit knowledge about any prearranged actions taken as a result of particle measurements.

Note that in particular there was no message anywhere in that scenario. It's only an assumption that things were carried out as arranged.
 
  • #28
leonid.ge said:
Suppose there is a new law: if measuring spin +1, then Biden will be president, otherwise Trump.
How do those get correlated?
 
  • #29
Is there an experiment confirming that correlations work on really large distances such as from here to other stars?
 
  • #30
DrChinese said:
It is not true that the first particle measured ends the overall entanglement any more than it is true that the second measurement ends the overall entanglement.
Sorry, that's not quite what I meant to imply. Apologies for any confusion.

I meant the first comparison of measurements between the two particles. They will show correlated entanglement. But if you try do the experiment a second time with the same two particles (which is what I assumed the OP was asking), there's no reason to expect a correlation.
 
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